Apple Homepod or Sonos One
Hey Team,
One of the big items on my 'watch list' for my home is how i plan to listen to music. Now I've gone through a fair few options as part of reviewing what I want and I basically narrowed it down to two options.
1 - The Apple Homepod
2 - Sonos One
The challenge in deciding between them both is that there is a number of variables at play and they appeal to a different audience for a couple of different reasons. So my reviews focussed around, Sound, Voice integration (smart home), Price, and 3rd party integration
So... First up Sound... My experience listening to them both is that without a doubt the Apple Homepod is one of the best sounding small speakers around. Look at youtube and you'll see plenty of reviews on the underlying technology and why it sounds so good. That said - The Sonos puts out a pretty nice sound in its own right as a single speaker, but where I get interested is when we combine two and run them in stereo. More on price later, but pound for pound putting 2 Sonos speakers against a single Homepod - I give Sonos the tick. If you can afford 2 x Homepods - that ends up well in front sound wise
Smart home integration / Voice services... Well It must be said - Im stuck inside the apple ecosystem and most of my 'smarts' are Apple integrated (Even if its with homebridge - more on that at a later date) - So of course Homepod makes that life easier to maintain - so they get a tick there. So - if Sonos comes into my life Im introducing alexa where I previously haven't - What it does do though is open the door to more integration options with Alexa - Something I am slowly warming to the idea of albeit with the knowledge if I do that I'll be adding some complexity around what I use with Apple and what Alexa does... Not a big deal - but an interesting thought...
Price - You want a good sound - you pay the price for it... Im ok with the price point of the homepod given the quality. I really like Sonos' play to drop a pair of the Sonos one's for the same price as the Homepod. Gives a genuine question to the cusumer on Really good sound on one device or good sound in stereo on 2. Both plays work depending on what you want. I'd love a pair of homepods but they become too expensive to go down that path for me at double the price of a pair of sonos.
Other integration - It really comes down to how you listen to your music - For me I am already an Apple music subscriber so homepod works perfectly - Hey Siri - play XX. For the Sonos - For non apple music people its the same both ways - a couple of clicks on your phone and throw it to the speaker and away you go. With the introduction of next generation airplay sonos will support that too so it makes life easier as an Apple person to use Sonos.
All in all - Both would work and there isn't a 'bad option' but for me the pair of Sonos ones win out. The sound is good, the price point works and it gives me some new opportunities to introduce alexa into my life. Whilst a bit more complex gives me options when I drop in new smart home technology that doesn't have to work with Apple for me to want to use it.
I'm really interested to here your thoughts and ideas on what you think and if you have any suggestions or thoughts that I haven't covered off.